Hey everyone. I’m looking for advice on my itinerary. My husband and I are going to Tokyo for 12 days. It’s our second time coming to Japan and we really loved Tokyo. Even though we spent our entire time in Tokyo last time we came, we really wanted to experience it again.
That being said, I’m hoping that I can get some advice from you all in how to best plan our trip here. I want to use our time as wisely as possible but not pack too much stuff into one day. I’m hoping that I can get some suggestions, recommendations, advice, etc. on this itinerary. I pretty much know what we are doing but I do have some free days.
Some of the things that we like are: Anime, manga, sanrio characters (PomPomPurin, Gudetama), Ultraman/Tokusatsu, square enix games in general, JRPGs, Tales of series, Earthbound, Pokemon, Digimon, SNES games, Vinyl records, Gundam/mecha, Stationary, Fountain pens, Cats.
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**Dec. 23: Nerd day Pt. 1 – Ghibli Museum/Akihabara**
* We arrive around 5am-ish and plan to head to our hotel (Hotel Ann Asakusa) to drop our luggage off.
* Ghibli Museum at 10am. We plan on picking up our tickets at a Lawson and then heading there. We wanted to grab breakfast/lunch at the Ghibli cafe. I think it opens at 10:30am, so we were going to queue up asap as possible since there’s always a line apparently.
* After that, explore Akihabara.
* Pokemon Cafe at 4:30PM and then we wanted to look at the pokemon center.
* Go back to the hotel to officially check in.
* *Go to Odaiba to watch the Unicorn lightshow that starts at 7pm OR explore more Akihabara OR see Blue Wall today.*
**Dec. 24: Shinjuku/Shibuya/Harajuku**
* Walk around Shinjuku.
* Stores we planned to check out/things we wanted to do: Don Quijote, Animate Shinjuku, Uniqlo Shinjuku, Godzilla Store Tokyo, Hands Shinjuku, BIC Camera, Disney flag store, pretend we’re Kiryuu from Yakuza…
* Walk around Shibuya.
* Stores we planned to check out: Mega Don Quijote, Animate, Mandarake, HMV Record shop, Hands Shibuya, Shibuya Parco (Nintendo + Pokemon Center), Tower Records
* Check out Harajuku.
* go to takeshita street, PomPom Purin Cafe, Kiddyland, and if we have time, walk around Meiji Shrine
* *Go to Odaiba to watch the Unicorn lightshow that starts at 7pm OR see Blue Wall today.*
**Dec. 25: Ginza/Ikebukuro**
* Walk around Ginza.
* Stores we planned to check out: Itoya, Marronier Gate and any other stationary store nearby.
* Walk around ikebukuro.
* Stores we planned to check out: LASHINBANG, Mandarake Lalala, Sunshine City Mall (Pokemon Center, Pikachu Sweets Cafe, Sanrio Store, Maybe Aquarium if we have time), Sanrio Cafe, BOOK-OFF
* Walk around Yanaka Ginza (COMPLETELY OPTIONAL)
* Neko Action, Cafe Neko-e-mon, Atom Bakery, Yanaka Shippoya
* Go to Roppongi Hills for the lights.
**Dec. 26: Nerd day pt. 2 – Tokyo Station/Nanako Broadway/Akihabara**
* Go to Tokyo Station
* Stores we planned to check out: Pokemon store for special pikachu, Ultraman M78, anything else cute in there.
* Check out Imperial West Gardens
* Opens at 9am, maybe do this while waiting for stuff to open at Tokyo Station.
* Head to Nanako Broadway and explore.
* Reservation at Eorzea Cafe in Akihabara.
* Explore Akihabara until reservation time.
**Dec. 27: Hakone**
* Get to Shinjuku Station by 7:30am and find the platform for the Romance Train.
* Head to Odawara Castle, eat at Ajichi Hojo and then go to the beach nearby.
* Head to Hakone Shrine and then ride boat from Motohakone-ko to Togendai-ko.
* Check in to Ryokan (Senkyoro Ryokan) and relax.
*I don’t think i’m using my time wisely here and am really nervous about not using my time here wisely… My check in is from 3pm to 6pm. The things that I really want to see are the Hakone Shrine and the lake. I could skip Odawara Castle or visit Odawara Castle the next day on my way to Yokohama. I also read something about these cable cars taking you somewhere, which also sounds nice!*
**Dec. 28: Yokohama**
* Check out of hotel.
* MAYBE go to Odawara Castle before setting out to Yokohama.
* Go to Gundam Factory – I reserved my tickets for both the factory and the observation deck. Eat at the Gundam Cafe here.
* Go to World’s Porter and Landmark Tower.
* Go to the Pokemon Center in Marui City.
* *Head back to hotel OR Odaiba OR check out Asakusa OR go to Meguro Minna River*
**Dec. 29: Shrine Visits + Free day**
* Check out Senso-Ji
* Check out Gotokuji Temple
* Ueno Zoo?
* *I’m open to suggestions here. I thought about maybe going to the Snoopy Museum + Cafe but I haven’t seen too many people talk about it.*
**Dec. 30: Skytree + Tokyo Tower**
* Check out Skytree and Tokyo Tower.
* Maybe get a reservation at Kaiju Sakaba. I tried to call to set up a reservation but the language barrier was too big sadly. 🙁
**Dec. 31- Jan. 1: DisneySea**
* We planned on going to DisneySea for both days because we really enjoyed the experience. We went to both last year and didn’t really care about Disneyland. Does anyone think I should check it out again? Maybe it’s changed in the last four years…
**Jan. 2: 7 Lucky Gods Pilgrimage + Free Day**
* Another free day. I planned to partake in the 7 lucky gods pilgrimage because it seems so cool to get all those stamps and I’m hoping the weather will be nice. It’s also just fun to walk around Tokyo.
**Jan. 3: Last minute shopping for souvenirs + Free Day**
**Jan. 4: Flying back home…**
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**I also have some questions:**
1. How much Japanese do I need to know? It’s been 4 years since I’ve gone to Japan and when I first went, I knew basic phrases (How much does this cost? Where is \_\_\_? Sorry. Hello. Etc.) I’m worried because while I still remember some of these phrases, I kind of scared myself because I tried to set up a reservation through phone and couldn’t get anywhere because of the language barrier.
2. Is there a pass to get around Tokyo? I plan on using exclusively trains but I am not sure if there’s like a 7 day pass or something that lets me use the trains as much as I’d like.
3. What food recommendations do you guys have? I’m going to be honest; Japanese food is very different than what I’m used to but I want to be adventurous and try new things! I’ve had the basic stuff, like ramen, tonkatsu, curry or yakiniku. I’d welcome any food recommendations!
4. Is there an easy way to find cafe collaborations? I used to have this website that had a calendar format that would let you know what cafe collaborations were going on in Tokyo but I can’t find it anymore for the life of me. I’ve done some research but didn’t know if there was a more efficient website.
5. Please help me with my Hakone day itinerary. Is this efficient? What should I do? How hard is it to navigate through the town? I’m worried about getting lost.
